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Monthly Archives: November 2012

Fattest Finger Ever Slams Stockholm Stock Exchange With $70 Trillion Buy Order

“We have seen some supposed ‘fat-finger’ trades in the last few days but Stockholm’s stock exchange was brought to its knees yesterday as a record-breaking order hit the book and halted trading for four hours. A 4.3 billion contract buy order in the OMX30 futures (the Swedish equivalent of the Dow futures) caused the fiasco. This is equivalent to a SEK460 trillion notional exposure – or 131 times the Swedish GDP (around USD70 trillion).”

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Gapping Up and Down This Morning

Gapping up 

BLOX +10.2%, SMTC +8.1%, ASML +6.3%, GFI +5.5%, GES +5%, NCR +4%,

AU +3.8%, CWTR +3.7%, RIO +2.9%, BBVA +2.1%, RIG +1.8%, WDAY +1.5%,

DB +1.4%, BHP +1.3%, E +1.2%, X +1.2%, RIMM +11.7%, FIO +2.7%, NKE +1.3%,

COST +0.4%, DIS +0.7%, HERO +5.4%, SIFY +5.2%, TTM +4.4%, REDF +3.7%, SLT +2.9%,

GDX +0.8%, SLV +0.6%, GLD +0.5%, PLL +0.7%,

Gapping down

LZB -13.4%, RNN -8.9%, ARO -7.9%, PGNX -5.2%, TIVO -3.2%, SHS -2.7%,

GMAN -1.8%, RTLX -1.7%, ATVI -1.2%, HUM -1.1%,  TASR -2.9%, CREE -1.1%,

AVB -0.8%,  TKR -2.6%,  GNRC -5.7%, TIF -13.7%, LZB -13.4%, FRO -5%, TGT -2.9%,

M -2.9%, OMI -2.4%, GPS -2.3%, GMAN -1.8%, TIVO -0.5%,

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SEC Puts SAC in its Sight Over Insider Trading With a Wells Notice

“SAC Capital Advisors LP said that securities regulators have warned the hedge-fund firm it may face civil charges over the alleged insider-trading scheme that led to last week’s arrest of a former portfolio manager.

Tom Conheeney, president of SAC, told investors during a Wednesday conference call that the Securities and Exchange Commission sent the firm a so-called Wells notice last week, according to people who listened or were briefed on the call. A person familiar with the investigation said SAC has been told it is vulnerable to civil charges of securities fraud and responsibility as a “control person” for the alleged illegal trading.

People familiar with the matter said the SEC’s Wells notice didn’t include any proposed charges against the firm’s billionaire founder, Steven A. Cohen. The regulator is still investigating him and probably will defer a decision on whether to seek enforcement action against him until federal prosecutors complete their criminal probe, one person familiar with the inquiry said.”

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$GS Makes a Bullish Call for 2013

“Goldman Sachs’ equity strategy team led by David Kostin just published its 2013 U.S. Equity Outlook Report.

And it’s bullish.

Here’s how Kostin’s team sees the S&P 500 unfolding next year:

Valuation: 12-month target of 1575 reflects 12% potential return
Our 3-month, 6-month, and 12-month forecasts are 1450, 1500, and 1575. We use six valuation approaches including DDM, uncertainty-based P/E multiple, cyclically-adjusted P/E multiple, price/book and ROE relationship.

“S&P 500 sales, which are measured in nominal terms, will rise by 4.4% in 2013 and 4.7% in 2014,” wrote Kostin.  “We forecast net margins will remain static as they have for the past 18 months, hovering in the 8.8%-9.0% band through the end of 2014. Given this environment, S&P 500 EPS will rise from $100 in 2012 to $107 in 2013 and $114 in 2014.”

Kostin first launched that 1,575 price target last month.  But this massive new 50-page report includes much more detail on strategy…”

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Michael Dell Considers $240 Million Deal To Save Sharp

“…Sharp is in talks with Round Rock, Texas-based Dell to arrange capital investment of as much as $240 million, the Journal said, without citing anyone. The maker of Aquos TVs has failed to win a planned 67 billion-yen investment from Taiwan’s Foxconn Technology Group and had its credit rating cut to junk after widening its loss forecast for the year….”

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$GM To Open a Research Plant in China, Oodles of Engineers About

 

“SHANGHAI (Reuters) – General Motors Co unveiled its latest global research center in China on Thursday, where it hopes to take advantage of the country’s vast supply of engineering graduates to drive its development of a new generation of electric vehicles.

China’s auto market has grown rapidly – it has been the world’s largest since 2009 – and one of the new centre’s primary roles is to ensure the requirements and preferences of consumers in China are integrated into GM’s global product development.

But the new facilities in Shanghai – the GM China Advanced Technical Center – will look after not just China’s auto market. It plans to develop an array of technologies and know-how for the global marketplace, alongside similar engineering centers in the United States, Germany and South Korea.

“This center plays a critical role in GM’s global R&D, engineering and design network,” said Jon Lauckner, the U.S. car maker’s global technology chief.

The decision to site a major upstream research facility in Shanghai was based in part on the relative abundance of engineering talent in China, which already produces more science and engineering graduates than any country, said John Du, a director of the new center.”

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Bondholders Suggest $AMR’s Board Should Be Replaced

 

“NEW YORK (Reuters) – A group of some of bankrupt American Airlines’ most significantbondholders said it will not support a standalone restructuring unless a new board is brought in, a move that may increase hurdles for Chief Executive Tom Horton and his team.

The 12-member bondholder group, which includes JPMorgan Chase & Co , Pentwater Capital Management and York Capital Management, is the primary well-organized group to have expressed an interest in funding an independent exit for the airline’s parent company AMR Corp.

AMR filed for bankruptcy in November 2011, seeking to reduce labor costs.

Entities that gain a controlling equity stake in a company through bankruptcy routinely appoint new boards, and those boards do not necessarily oust the company’s incumbent managers.”

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Copper Supply Shortages Expected to Grow Well Into Next Year

“Copper supply shortages will extend into the first half of next year as an accelerating Chinese economy more than doubles the pace of growth in global consumption even as mines extract a record amount of metal.

Demand will outpace supply by 316,000 metric tons in the first six months, more than all copper in London Metal Exchange warehouses, before a surplus emerges in the second half, Barclays Plc estimates. Production has lagged behind consumption since 2010, according to the International Copper Study Group. The metal may average $8,300 a ton in the second quarter, 6 percent more than now and the most in a year, according to the median of 21 analyst and trader estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

China, which uses 41 percent of the world’s copper, is rebounding from seven quarters of slowing growth after the government approved a $161 billion subways-to-roads construction plan in September. It’s being joined by central banks from the U.S. to Europe to Japan, who also pledged more stimulus. Housing starts in the U.S., the second-largest consumer, reached a four- year high last month and business confidence unexpectedly strengthened in Germany, Europe’s biggest economy.”

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Brazil Continues to Keep Rates at Record Lows

“Brazil signaled it plans to keep its benchmark rate at a record low for a period that economists predict will be the longest in history to prop up an economy heading toward its worst two-year performance in a decade.
Policy makers last night kept the Selic rate at 7.25 percent, ending the second-longest streak of reductions in an effort to prevent inflation from accelerating. The unanimous decision, which was forecast by all 75 economists surveyed by Bloomberg, took into account the “the balance of risks for inflation,” the board said in its statement, which was almost identical to last month’s announcement.
Central bankers led by President Alexandre Tombini reiterated their intent to keep rates steady for a “prolonged period” as they try to keep inflation within their 2.5-to-6.5 percent target range without derailing the economy’s recovery. Economists surveyed by the central bank forecast that the Selic will remain unchanged through 2013.”

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ECB Wins Ruling to Keep Greek Derivative Swaps File Nontransparent

“The European Central Bank will be allowed to keep private files showing how Greece used derivatives to hide its debt after defeating the first court challenge using the bloc’s freedom of information rules.

“Disclosure of those documents would have undermined the protection of the public interest so far as concerns the economic policy of the European Union and Greece,” the EU General Courtin Luxembourg said today, rejecting a request by Bloomberg News initially filed in August 2010.

Today’s ruling by three judges denies European taxpayers, on the hook for the cost of Greece’s 240 billion-euro ($311 billion) bailout, the opportunity to see whether EU officials knew of irregularities in Greece’s public accounts before they became public in 2009. The decision underscores the ECB’s lack of accountability as it expands its powers to become the euro area’s chief banking regulator, said Georg Erber, a research associate at the German Institute for Economic Research.

“The courts are bending the rules to legalize the policies of the European institutions and help stabilize the region,” said Erber, a specialist in financial-market regulation. “It reveals implicitly that the EU was well-informed about what was going on and didn’t take steps to avert the crisis.” ”

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Unemployment Ticks Higher for an Eighth Month in Germany

“German unemployment climbed for an eighth straight month in November as Europe’s debt crisis curbed company investment and economic growth.

The number of people without a job increased a seasonally adjusted 5,000 to 2.94 million, the Federal Labor Agency in Nuremberg said today. Economists forecast a gain of 16,000, the median of 37 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey shows. The adjusted jobless rate held at 6.9 percent. Separately, a gauge of economic confidence in the euro area unexpectedly rose.”

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Spanish Bond Yields Drop to 8-Month Low

Spain’s bonds rose, pushing the 10- year yield to an eight-month low, on optimism Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy will take steps to stabilize the nation’s debt, easing the euro-region’s financial crisis.

Italy’s 10-year yield tumbled to the least in almost two years as its borrowing costs dropped at an auction of about 6 billion euros ($7.8 billion) of five- and 10-year debt. Austrian and Belgian yields fell to records for a second day. German bunds slipped before U.S. Treasury SecretaryTimothy F. Geithner meets congressional leaders in an effort to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff.”

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BoE Says U.K. Banks Need More Capital Held Against Losses

“Bank of England Governor Mervyn King said U.K. banks are understating the capital they need to hold against potential losses, and said regulators should ensure measures are taken to provide “accurate” valuations.

“In judging whether banks are adequately capitalized, we need to ensure that reported capital ratios do in fact provide an accurate picture of banks’ health,” King told a press conference inLondon today. “At present, there are good reasons to think that they do not.” ”

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EU Nations Clash on Thresholds for Direct ECB Oversight

“The European Union is quarreling over thresholds on how big euro-area lenders must be in order to be designated for direct oversight by the European Central Bank, according to draft proposals.

Nations are at odds over three different size thresholds, according to the document drawn up by Cyprus, which holds the EU’s rotating presidency. Some countries are seeking to set the bar as low as banks with more than 2.5 billion euros ($3.2 billion) in assets, while others are calling for divisions at 20 billion euros or 60 billion euros, according to the text, dated Nov. 27 and obtained by Bloomberg News.”

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$RY Sees Profits Rise 22% From Investment Banking Division

Royal Bank of Canada, the first Canadian lender to report fourth-quarter results, said profit rose 22 percent on higher trading and investment-banking fees.

Net income for the period ended Oct. 31 was C$1.91 billion ($1.93 billion), or C$1.25 a share, up from C$1.57 billion, or C$1.02, a year earlier, the Toronto-based lender said today in a statement. Revenue rose 12 percent to C$7.52 billion.

Royal Bank, Canada’s largest lender by assets, benefited from a surge in fixed-income trading and gains in its RBC Capital Markets investment bank. Analysts and investors expect Canadian banks to offset slower growth in consumer lendingand mortgages with fees for arranging stock sales, trading and advising on takeovers.”

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$RIO Lays Out a Plan to Boost Production While Cutting $5 Billion in Capex

Rio Tinto Group, the world’s second- largest mining company, said it’s targeting savings of $5 billion by the end of 2014, while simultaneously boosting production at its iron ore, copper and alumina units.

“We are taking further tough action to roll back the unsustainable cost increases of the past few years,” Tom Albanese, chief executive officer of the London-based company, said today in a statement. “Our two most challenged businesses are aluminum and coal, and in particular Australian coal,” he later told reporters in Sydney.

Rio Tinto plans to cut the $5 billion in operating and support costs compared with expected costs this year, joining mining companies including BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP) in seeking cost savings as well as curbing investment on new projects as metal demand wanes. Rio last month said it’s delaying investment decisions in commodities such as coal while continuing spending on its Australian iron ore expansion.”

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